In late 1982, the computer that started me on the path to utter geekdom was first created: the Commodore 64. Of course I was a wee 5 years old at the time, and it was another five years before I actually laid my hands on a machine of my own, but that alone was a sign that the C64 was something great; an enduring piece of computer history that transcended the 6-month product cycle that most other computer products go through before they enter the world of obsolescence. Indeed, the computer was updated internally and externally through its product life, allowing it to last 12 years in production before finally being discontinued in 1994. Despite not being particularly advanced or flashy, the C64 was THE computer for the masses; the one that sold better than any other computer made, even today.
But the story didn’t end in 1994. Today, the Computer History Museum celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the Commodore 64. And the commemoration of this event has already garnered lots of attention from mainstream media. And the premier website for the Commodore 64 has been hammered with traffic of late. While not state of the art, the C64 lives on, among its various owners who still have the original hardware, as well as those of us whose orignal computers died long ago, but can still relive our memories of our beloved first-machines via the various C64 emulators that can be downloaded and run on modern computer systems, or even over a flash-enabled web browser.
There’s more to the ethos of the Commodore 64 than just the retro-coolness of it. This really was THE home computer, a machine that one could buy at a K-Mart or Toys-R-Us and still expect to be able to keep up with the things that office-bound computers of the day could do. this was something no one was able to do before, and alas, no one was really able to do again. Even now, buying a Dell means going online to order it; buying a retail PC means getting raked over the coals on price with limited choices from Big Box stores; and buying a Mac… well, there’s an unfortunate Starbucks-esque stigma attached to going to an Apple store and contending with the many hipsters in line with you (Apple fanboys: don’t attack me, I wrote this post on a Mac! I only speak the truth).
Even more sad is that Commodore simply could not come up with another runaway success after the C64 had its legendary run. There was the Commodore 128, but of those who DID buy one, most only used it in C64 compatibility mode, as there was so much more C64-only software out there. And then, alas, there was the Amiga. Now that’s a sad story: a machine with a great deal of potential that was never fully utilized, earning itself only a mere footnote in computer history. This sad state of affairs is made worse by the small clique of Amiga users who still live on, yet treat their association (and their hardware) with a uniquely inappropriate level of snobbishness.